


Freezing Icarus

by Demran



Category: RWBY
Genre: Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Mostly future fantasy style tech, Multi, RWBY in SPACE, Sci-Fi/Military AU, not super shippy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-07
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-29 11:01:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3893917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demran/pseuds/Demran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newly graduated Colonel Weiss Schnee has to learn to deal with the burdens of command, not to mention how to deal with people she doesn't get along with. (Rated Mature because of potential mature subjects being dealt with)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome to the Military

Weiss rolled out of bed, her alarm doing a sufficient job of jolting her from sleep. Unfortunately, it didn’t do a good job of waking her up. She really shouldn’t have attended the graduation after-after party. Why had she let Nora convince her to go?

She pondered that question while going about her morning routine, her alarm programmed to not stop its screaming until she had at least brushed her teeth; she’ll have to thank Colonel Riggs for that later. And by thank, she really means she’ll have to threaten her with serious bodily harm. Oh well, it could be worse: she could still be in the cadet’s dorms.

She shuddered at the recollection of that dark time. A hundred groggy, cranky women being screamed at to shower faster by an all-too-angry drill sergeant at four in the morning. At least the others had the decency to keep their hands to themselves, after the first few weeks.

A chime from her communicator caught her attention, and she slapped the ‘answer’ button, doing her best to glare at the screen and not look like she had the worst hangover she’d ever had. Nora’s face lit up the small display, chipper and excited. _“She drank twice as much as me last night, why doesn’t she look like hell?”_ Weiss thought to herself, bitterly.  
  
“Hey Weiss, er-- Colonel Schnee, ma’am-- General Ironwood wants you in his office at Oh-Nine-Hundred for your posting assignment.” The excitable redhead still hadn’t gotten used to using Weiss’ rank. Weiss supposed she never would, but hopefully it wouldn’t be an issue, as Nora was only a major. A drop-trooper major, the best of their year, but a major nonetheless. They don’t talk to Colonels all that often, right?   
  
She shook herself out of her musings. “Noted. Anything else, Major Valkyrie?”

“He also wants you to know that you’ll be receiving your personal AI, and meeting your direct subordinates.” She says, still smiling brightly.  
  
Weiss narrowed her eyes at the screen, hoping that her expression could wither away some of that girl’s infernal cheer (She didn’t understand why she still tried, it never worked before.) “Also noted. Tell the General I’ll be on my way shortly.”

“Yes ma’am!” Nora says, though Weiss cuts her off by ending the call.  
  
_“I hope I get assigned officers from another academy. I’d rather not have to deal with people that know my reputation…”_ She silently mused as she stepped out of her quarters’ bathroom, her headache slightly abated by the quick shower she forced herself through. What Weiss really wanted was to go back to sleep, but she had never indulged herself that luxury before so she wouldn’t today either. 

* * *

 

It took Weiss half an hour to cross the large academy’s campus on foot, the route she was forced to take to avoid the rest of the recently graduated student body being exceedingly roundabout. Thankfully, she managed to reach General Ironwood’s office at exactly nine, and she allowed herself to let out a small sigh of relief.

“Colonel Schnee.” General Ironwood greeted, looking up from his paperwork. The holographic terminal usually displaying the General’s AI, Penny, was shut off. Apparently, it was too early in the morning for the experimental AI’s antics. “Please, sit down.”  
  
“Sir.” She saluted sharply, moving into the absurdly comfortable chair pointed out for her. _“Perks of being a general I suppose, you get the decent chairs.”_

“Now, let me first extend my heartfelt congratulations to you, Colonel. I know you didn’t have a great relationship with your father, but I know he would have been very proud of your accomplishments.” Ironwood offered a brief smile, which Weiss begrudgingly returned. What he said was an understatement: Weiss and her father were notorious among the military for never getting along.  
  
General Schnee, as her father insisted he be called by everyone, was an uncompromising, perfectionist, borderline totalitarian asshole. It wasn’t any surprise to most people that really knew him when the officers under his command mutinied and killed him before starting the current rebellion in the outer rim.

“Thank you, sir.” Weiss replied, barely hiding her bitterness at the mention of her father.

“But that’s not why I called you here,” Ironwood took up a beige folder from a large stack on his desk, and extended it towards Weiss. “This file contains the names of all your subordinates, where you’re being assigned, and what your flagship will be.”  
  
Weiss nodded, daintily taking the folder and flipping it open to peruse the contents. She immediately regretted it, as one name in particular glared up at her: Lieutenant-Colonel Blake Belladonna. “May I ask, sir, why you’re assigning Lieutenant-Colonel Belladonna as my second in command?”   
  
Ironwood raised a brow, tenting his fingers. “Is there a problem, Colonel?”

Weiss clenched her jaw to bite back a scathing remark about Blake, deciding instead on the more diplomatic option of “Nothing that will impact our performance, sir. It’s merely a personal differing of opinion.”

Ironwood motioned for Weiss to continue reading the document, so she did (with greater suspicion now.) None of the other names stuck out to her, excepting of course her ‘friend,’ Major Nora Valkyrie.

So Weiss frowned and flipped from the personnel manifest to the equipment manifest, being met by a smaller folder hidden under the personnel manifest clearly labeled: _“For Your Eyes Only.”_  
  
“Classified gear, sir?” Weiss asked, hoping that she wasn’t being turned into another one of the R&D department’s guinea pigs.

“Your ship is the first production model of the new Atlas class cruiser. There’s more to it than that, so keep reading.” Ironwood kept his brow raised, seemingly scrutinizing Weiss’ reaction.

Weiss gingerly broke the seal on the folder, examining the technical specifications of the cruiser she was assigned: The Diones. She wondered what made the Atlas class special. Apart from its slightly higher weapons rating, being armed more like a destroyer than the corvette it looked to be, she couldn’t see what else could justify making an entirely new class of vessel.

As if sensing her doubt, Ironwood spoke up. “The Atlas class is equipped with a new variant of the standard Fold drive. It’s not listed there, for fairly obvious reasons.”  
  
“Those reasons being, sir?”   
  
“It’s capable of making short-format Folds once every twenty-five seconds, sustaining this rate for upwards of half an hour.” He said proudly. No doubt his influence in R&D had to do with this drive’s development, and with it getting assigned to Weiss before anyone else. “And that’s without pushing it. It can get a bit unstable, if you push it too far past that. But I don’t see a situation where your command cruiser will be needing to do that many short-format Folds. Do you?”

If ever there was a loaded question… “No sir.” Weiss replied. “I plan to make sure my ship remains outside direct conflict except where absolutely necessary. I have the rest of my regiment’s fleet to worry about, I can’t go risking it all by getting myself killed.”

She looked back to the manifest, turning the page to the next classified bit of ‘joy’ she’d be having to put up with. _“Well, that’s interesting…”_ Weiss thought, reading over the page’s contents.

_The Gemini suit is an experimental method of increasing the efficiency of personal AI units,_ the page read. _By surgically grafting the suit onto the subject, and linking it directly to the subject’s nervous system, the suit and its onboard AI can increase the mental acuity of the subject, in addition to providing various other…_ Okay, that was enough.  
  
“I take it that I’m going to be the one in this new ‘Gemini’ suit?” Weiss asks, not bothering to hide her skepticism.

“Along with your entire senior staff. And no, before you ask, you won’t be given ‘slate’ AIs, you’re being given full emotive AIs.”  
  
Drat. There went the hope of being able to get some peace and quiet. And she won’t be able to keep the damn program out of anything, either. Risky… “I understand, sir. When am I slated for grafting?”

“Later today. AI implantation will take place when you board the Diones.” Ironwood said, checking his watch. “One hour and fifty-two minutes from now, to be exact.”

Just under two hours and Weiss could say ‘goodbye’ to being anything other than another cog in the military machine… _“Well, it isn’t like I can just back out of being a Colonel after graduating from the most prestigious military academy,”_ she supposed. “Understood.” Weiss decided it was a good idea to go over the rest of the materials manifest, just to make sure there wasn’t any other curveballs in there.

Mercifully, there wasn’t. “I expect the grafting will be in the local infirmary?” She asks, closing the file.

“Yes. I recommend heading there immediately, so the surgeons can go over what you can expect to experience.” Ironwood said. “I’ll visit you when you’re out of surgery. Dismissed.”  
  
“Sir!” Weiss quickly stood up and offered a sharp salute, which Ironwood lazily returned. Letting out a deep sigh, she turned to leave the General’s office and headed towards the infirmary.


	2. Surgery and Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Weiss gets her suit. Exposition ensues.

Weiss took a more direct route to the infirmary, her headache having passed. She supposed it was for the best, not having to listen to any medical jargon through the haze of a hangover. Once she stepped through the doors, she noticed a full lobby. Apparently, her entire command staff was here, getting their suits grafted onto them.

Good. She wasn’t going to have her first day of command ruined by lazy subordinates. Thankfully, Lieutenant-Colonel Belladonna seemed to already be in surgery, so Weiss wouldn’t have to deal with her. Yet.

“Colonel Schnee?” The receptionist asked, glancing up from their screen. “You’re not slated for grafting for another hour and a half, but if you’d like us to push up the schedule, we can.”  
“No, I’ll wait. It’s not so important as to rush the surgeons, or interfere with scheduling,” Weiss replied, going to take a seat in the only empty chair in the lobby. She glanced around, seeing who all was there. “Lieutenant-Colonel Nikos, Major Valkyrie, Lieutenants Winchester and Lark…” She raised a brow at the absence of Lieutenants Bronzewing and Thrush, but wasn’t surprised. Winchester and Lark were likely only there because they were escorted by campus security; they were notoriously lazy.

She didn’t recognize some of the others by their faces, but she wasn’t the most social of her class, so she didn’t think she would, or even should, recognize many more than the people she was assigned to run exercises with frequently. As she didn’t particularly feel like striking up a conversation, and with Nora thankfully occupied by Lieutenant-Colonel Nikos, she decided to go over the less classified portions of her materials manifest.

She was so absorbed in this that she almost didn’t notice her name being called in to the surgical bay room a tad earlier than she expected. Good, slightly faster-than-scheduled surgeries meant a skilled surgeon and nurses. She spared a brief glance to the recovery booths on the far wall and noted that her earlier assumption of Lieutenant-Colonel Belladonna being grafted before her was right.  
“Colonel Schnee?” The doctor asked, a rather portly man with more facial hair than is probably approved by regulation.

“Yes. You’re the surgeon, then?” Weiss began taking off her uniform’s jacket while she waited for the response.

“Yes. My name is Doctor Port. If you would please change into the surgical gown hanging by the door, we’ll prep the bay.”  
“Jeez, he sounds cheerier than regulation allows. If that’s even a thing.” Weiss frowned as she changed into the gown, rather desensitized to having others see her change, even if she suspected that the portly man was a bit of a lecher. Once she was in the gown, she went to lie down on the bed that slowly rolled its way into the large machine that was the surgical bay.

The tell-tale hiss of anaesthetic filling the air in the chamber prompted Weiss to start counting backwards from ten, not having to be told by Dr. Port. She had barely made it to six before passing out.

 

* * *

 

The next thing that Weiss knew, she was floating in one of the recovery tubes. She breathed in the stale air coming from the rebreather mask, looking through the pale blue liquid at the room. A pair of nurse androids were checking on the recovering patients.

Deciding she wasn’t going to be able to get their attention, she glanced down at herself. _“Well, at least the bodysuit is form fitting, so I’ll be able to wear regular clothes on top of it,”_ she mused. _“And it looks like it seamlessly meshes with my body, too. I wonder if this is what prosthetics feel like?”_

It was then that she noticed the faint heads-up-display that covered portions of her vision. _“A feature of the suit? I suppose this is helpful…”_ Currently, the only data the HUD provided her was her vitals; blood pressure, heart rate, and blood oxygenation being the most prominent.

She was about to raise a hand to tap on the glass of the recovery tube when the liquid in the tube began to drain. As it did, she idly wondered how long she had been out, and if she could perhaps have a clock added to the things her suit’s HUD provided her.

Once Weiss was standing inside the tube, rather than floating in it, she reached up to remove the mask and breathed in the thankfully less stale air that replaced the liquid. She was forced to wait while the glass surface of the tube opened to let her free.

“How are you feeling, Colonel?” One of the nurse androids asked, grabbing a clipboard and pencil.

“Well. I’m not feeling any pain where the suit is grafted, and I’m not feeling any after-effects from the anaesthesia,” Weiss stepped out of the recovery tube, flexing her fingers and testing to see how much the suit might restrict her movement. To her relief it barely did, being more like a second skin than a battlesuit.

The nurse noted some things down, tilting their head jerkily to one side. “Please proceed to the lobby. One of the developers of the Gemini Suit will escort you to your flagship and explain the functions in more detail.”  
“Understood,” Weiss wondered when the makers of those androids would give them more human features, rather than leaving them as a bare skeleton of metal. However, she didn’t let her pondering keep her in the surgical bay room longer than necessary. Standing in the lobby was a man in a long white lab coat.

"Ah, Miss Schnee! Excellent!" The green-haired man exclaimed. "Unfortunately, a situation has come up, so we're going to move up the implantation of your suit's AI!"

"Situation?" Weiss raised a brow. She knew that the situation in the outer rim was volatile at the moment, but perhaps she didn't realize quite how volatile it was.

"Yes! Quite the predicament!" He said, frantically rummaging around in his coat. "Now, if you would please engage your suit's visor and turn around, Ruby can explain it!"

She frowned, wondering just how to engage the visor. Thinking that perhaps it was engaged by thought, she simply concentrated on activating the visor. Weiss had to keep from yelping and drawing away as a thin holographic visor snapped to life over her eyes, accompanied by the extension of the quite physical emitters that rested over her ears. The visor provided her with much more information than the basic HUD, including a system clock (much to her delight.)

"Wonderful!" The doctor seemed far too excited as Weiss turned around. He pulled her ponytail further off to the side and slotted a small chip into a port at the base of her neck. "You may feel a slight jolt. Now, follow me!"

Weiss watched as the man simply walked out of the infirmary, perplexed at how such a man could make it through high school, let alone university and med school. Maybe he hadn't, and this was just another instance of the government snatching up talent without much substance behind it. She sighed, following the man. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't noticed a small AI representation enter her visor.

"So you're my person?" The dark-haired AI asked, her silver eyes shining with delight.

Weiss yelped, shaking her head a bit. "Don't do that!" She snapped, glaring at the now-cowed AI. "What's your designation?"

"Desig-- Oh! My name! Hi, I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose!" The AI's grin returned. "I'm your fully emotive AI, type two. I'll handle everything from issuing passport data to coordinating any cyber warfare for you."

"I know what you'll be doing," Weiss said, quickening her stride to catch up with the excitable doctor. "Can you explain to me the situation that prompted the rushing of your implantation?"

"What? Oh! Right! There's a security breach in orbit, and your flagship is currently the only one operational and with a full compliment of soldiers." Ruby bounced up and down. "Oh, this is gonna be so cool! Our first day, and we're already going to be kicking butt! And you're a Colonel! Which is so totally awesome!"

"I know that there'd have to be a security breach, you dunce! Give me more details!" Weiss was quickly reaching the end of her rope with this AI. Maybe she could sneakily replace her with a slate-type? No, that wouldn't work, fully emotive AIs have complete security access to all systems, Ruby would be able to notify General Ironwood.

Ruby wilted somewhat, frowning. "O-One Heracles class troop transport entered orbit, and it hasn't transmitted flight data to the orbital flight controllers. It's also not flying any identifiable designation, and is on a direct collision course with the local orbital elevator." She said, meekly.

"Thank you. Was that so hard?" Weiss let out a sigh to calm herself. _"It's just an AI,"_ she told herself. _"N_ _ot a person. No need to get worked up over her."_

"Hey! I am too a person!" Ruby yelled. Her representation in Weiss' vision stomped a foot, the entire gesture being more comical than threatening.

"Right, you can hear my thoughts. Whatever, let's just get aboard the _Diones_ and deal with this mess," Weiss again quickened her pace, practically running towards the orbital elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to update, but here we are! Apologies if Weiss feels a bit OOC in this chapter, I had a bit of trouble writing the intro bits.
> 
> But! Plot is starting to happen! That's good, right?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all, this is my first published work of any sort. Please leave your comments, suggestions, and questions in an orderly manner ('cause no one likes disorganization, right?)
> 
> Playing around with characters and our expectations of them a lot in this work. The tech in this work is slightly inspired by a combination of Halo and Macross, with a few of my own original ideas thrown in.


End file.
